Princess Hijab . . . 'I use veiled women as a challenge. The veil can be as profane as it is sacred'. Photograph: Princess Hijab
Just after dawn at Havre- Caumartin metro station, Paris's first commuters are stepping on and off half-empty trains. Then, at the end of the platform, a figure in black appears, head bowed and feet tapping with nerves.
Princess Hijab is Paris's most elusive street artist. Striking at night with dripping black paint she slaps black Muslim veils on the half-naked airbrushed women – and men – of the metro's fashion adverts. She calls it "hijabisation". Her guerrilla niqab art has been exhibited from New York to Vienna, sparking debates about feminism and fundamentalism – yet her identity remains a mystery.
If she is a religious fundamentalist wouldn't she have covered everything below the neck? Maybe a political protest at the demonisation of a too visible Muslim presence. Or maybe an 'adbuster' undermining the hucksters' tasteless promotions.
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